Railroad-spike



(NO M Odel.)

H. GRBER. RAILROAD SPIKE.

Nm 267,420. Patented Nov. 14, 1882.

UNTTnn STATES FATnNT Ormea.

HOWARD GREER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO GEORGE H.CHRISTY, TRUSTEE, OF SEWICKLEY, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILROAD-SPIKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 267,420, dated November14, 1882,

Application filed March 3, 1882.

To all whom "Lt may concern:

Be it known that I, HOWARD GREER, of Chicago, county of Cook, State ofIllinois, have invented or discovered a new and useful linprovement inRailroad-Spikes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, concise, and exact description thereof, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, inwhich-like letters indicating like parts- Figures l, 2, and 3 areperspective views of railroad-spikes of slightly different forms, buteach containing more or less completely the features of inventionhereinafter described and claimed. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 .are sectionalviews of Figs. l to 3, respectively, in the planes of the lines m x, x',and x2 x2. Figs. 7 and 8 are perspective views of spike-heads, furtherillustrative of my present invention; and Fig. 9 is a detached view ofthe spike-head of Fig. 3.

The ordinary railroad-spike heretofore employed-namely, with a squareshank, a laphead, and a wedge-point-has, when in use, so littleholding-power that the railroad companies are generally compelled toadhere to the exclusive use of hard-wood ties. The form of the spike issuch that when driven into wood it breaks or disintegrates the fiber orgrain of the wood immediately around it to a greater or less extent,depending somewhat on the kind or quality of wood employed; and suchbroken pieces or grains of wood ber, resembling in some respects coarsesawdust, operate apparently somewhat as a cushioning material around oralong the body of the spike, and also, on account of their broken anddisintegrated condition, they have a yielding tendency under the heavystrain employed, as a result of which the otherwise strong hold of thewood on the spike-body or shank is materially lessened. This evil isless in hard than in soft woods, and hence the necessity in usinghardwood ties. call for a spike of suchv form that when driven into softwood it would have a holding-power sufficient for the purposes desired,so that, as hard wood has become scarce and costly, the softer woods canbe resorted to. The present spike is devised with this particular end inview.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 4, the body or There has for a long timebeenV al (No model.)

shank B of the spike is of T form in crosssection, the anges b b', whichform the head of the T, being on the bearin g side ofthe spike, or onthe side which in driving comes next the rail-flange. The third flangeor rib, c, extends up and down the back side of the shank, and

-tapers in depth from at or about the wood-linebeing driven, and, whatis of still'more im vportance, to avoid so far as possible the breakageof the liber of the wood by the entrance ot' the spike. The taper formsdescribed give the best wedge-like action, whereby to displace and pushback the wood which lies in the path of the spike with the leastpossible breakage of the grain or ber so displaced, and still retainingthe desired amount or degree of holding-power, or, rather, so increasingthe latter that even in soft wood the holding-power will be as great orgreater than the holding-power of the ordinary spike in hard wood, and,still further, while doing all this I make the ribs b b comparativelythin and broad, and thus, and by the use of the back rib, so dispose themetal ot' the-spike that, while less in weight than the ordinary spike,it will be equally' strong or stronger. And in order to increase theholdin g-power of the adjacent angular faces s s of the ribs, I soincline 0r shape them that each two adjacent meeting faces shall make anobtuse angle with each other, as in Fig. 4; and, what I believe to beastill further improvement, I add a fillet, s', along up and down themeeting faces, or in the angle formed by the meeting planes of thefaces, as better illustrated in Figs. 3, 5, and (i.

VThe spike-head D, Fig. 1, is double, by which I mean thatthetableorstriking-head 1., which receives the blow in driving, is separated fromthe lip d,which overlaps the edge of the raillange, by a groove, d2, oneon each side, of suitable size and depth to receive the claws IOO of adraw-bar, but still leaving sufficient metal between the bottoms of eachtwo opposite grooves to secure proper strength atthat point; audit isone peculiarity of these grooves that they extend forward or inwardtoward the point of thelip d far enough sothat the points ot' the clawsof the drawbar may engage the under side of the upper head, d, at ornear or forward ot' the central line of the greatest resistance found inthe drawing of the spike.

Heretofcre, in all the railroad-spikes I have any knowledge of, theclaw-bar could take a bite or grip ou the under side of the head only'at a point considerably back of such line of greatest resistance. Theresult then was that the spike was almost always bent considerablybackward in drawing, and had to be straightened (generally afterheating) before it could be used again. Extending the grooves forward asdescribed enables the spikes to be drawn vertically upward in a directline and usually without being much, if at all, bent, assuming the workto be done with care.

As another part of this invention, I make the upper side of the lip dwith a hollow concave or recess, e. The utility of this will be seen byreference to Figs. l() and l1. Vhen a spike of the ordinary form ot'side head is driven down, the outer end ot' the lip usually engages theupper side of the rail-flange, as in Fig. l0, and clamps the railtightly down. The tendency of the rail to lift under the various strainsto which it is subject produces not only a considerable wear at thatpoint, but also an upward strain, which, acting on the spike at the.outer end of the lip, acts as on the end of a bent lever to lift thespike, and the effective lifting force of such strain increases with thedistance of such bearing-point from the spikebody. Now, the concave orrecess e leaves the outer end ofthe lip free to bend or spring a little,so that the final blow given to the spike shall bring it down, as inFig. ll, with its lower face conformed to the shape of the upper` sideof the rail-flange. Thus the lifting-strain and wearing et'eet of therail is distributed from the point of the lip along to or nearly to itsbase, and the bent-lever action above referred to is practicallyeliminated. rlhe occasion for this feature of improvement arises fromthe fact that there is no uniformity in the angle ofthe slope or bevelof the upper outer edge of the rail-flange, as between the differentpatternsl ot' rails used by different roads. Hence the desirability of aspike, the side head ot' which may conform to the irregularities metwith.

The several features of improvement thus far described are illustratedin slightly modied forms in the other figures, and are designated oridentified by the same letters, so that the description need not berepeated as to each. The taper of the ribs may begin from just beneaththe spike-heads, as in Figs. l, 7 and 8, instead of from at or near thewoodline; and other modifications maybe made without any substantialdeparture from the scope of the present invention.

One ofthe advantages appertainlng to this i'orm of spike is that I get abroad lateral bearing-face, B', of the spike against the edge oftherail-ange, and I further improve the spike by carrying out the lips d ofthe full width or approximately of the full width of this bearingfaceB', as best illustrated in Fig. 2, but also shown more or less perfectlyin other figures. The advantages of this will be readily understood bytrack-layers.

In order to increase the holding-power of a spike, I also scale thesame; butI this will be included in another application to be led in duetime.

In those spikes wherein a side head is desiredthat is, with the lip dprojecting over one or the other of the side ribs, I) or b/ a broadbearing-face should be added immediately under the base of the lip,which in use will come against the rail-flange. In like manner the headmay project over the back flange, c, and have a like broad bearing-faceimmediately beneath the base of the lip. Spikes ot' these moditied formsare sometimes required for special uses, and in all the forms of spikesshown this broad bearing-face is important, since the use ot' steelrails has led to a reduction in the thickness of the rail-flange,whereby its frictional wear or cutting el'ect on the spike isconsiderably increased as compared with the old iron rail.

Some ofthe several features ofimprovement herein described may beemployed, if desired, without the necessary use of certain othersas, forexample, the double head with the intermediate grooves may be used onthe ordinary spike; or one or more of the improvements shown, describedas app'ertainin g to the spike-sh ank, may be used with some advantageeven with the old and well-known form ot' head, and all suchmodifications are hereby included herein.

As a further element of utility in the use of a chisel-pointed spike, itmay be stated that with the ordinary wedge-pointed spike it has indriving to be started at an angle, or inclined outward, and in drivingits direction of motion is changed, so that when driven down it willstand vertical, or nearly so. This is necessary in order to make it beartightly against or hug the edge ot' the rail-Hange. This circuitousdriving operation causes the spike-point to enter the wood in a curvedpath, so that the wood fibers around the spike-shank, after it is drivendown, are so much the more disintegrated orbroken. The chisel-pointedspike, on the other hand, may be driven directly down straight into thetie, as the tendency of the bevel of the chisel-point, particularly inconnection with the slope or incline of the back edge of the back rib,c, will be to hold or press the spike at all times over against theraililange and cause it to hug the latter tightly. Hence the huggingaction of the spike on the IOC IIO

edge of the rail-Hange will be secured without necessarily extend ing orspreading out the area of breakage, of the wood fiber in the driving ofthe spike.

These spikes may be made by casting, rolling, or forging, or byacombination of the two latter operations in any of the ways known tothe art. Specially-constructed machinery for the purpose will form thesubject-matter of one or more applications hereafter to be led, ifthought advisable.

I use the terms chisel-point and chiselpointed 7 herein asdistinguishing my improved spike from the wedge-pointed spike commonlyin use, and shown in numerous patents.

As regards the taper in the back rib, c, of the spike, it is importantthat such taper should extend, as described, entirely through or alongso much or approximately so much of its length as enters the wood whenin use, or, in other words, from at or near the wood-line to at or nearthe spike-point, since only thus can the wood fiber be displaced withoutbeing considerabl y crushed and broken back of or away from thespike-hole. Where the bevel or taper is at all abrupt, as when madeshort, a considerable breaking or crushing effect necessarily follows,and the best holding-power of the spike is consequently to acorresponding extent lost.

For the purpose of illustrating other features of improvement, I haveshown some of the features of the present invention in Patent No.258,052, granted to me May 16, 1882,

the present case being the one referred to in 3 5 the specification ofsaid patent.

I claim herein as my inventionl. In a railroad-spike, the grooves d2,extendingalong the opposite sides of the head to a point at or near orbeyond the vertical line of 4o greatest resistance in the drawingoperation, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. A notch, concave, or recess, e, made in the. upper face of theprojecting part of a side or lap-headed railroad-spike, substantially as45 set forth.

3. A railroad-spike having a back rib, c, which tapers from at or nearthe wood-line to at or near the spike-point, substantially as set forth.5o

4. The side ribs, b b', of a railroad-spike, tapering in thickness fromat or near the woodline to at or near the spike-point, substantially asset forth.

5. A chisel-pointed railroad-spike substan- 53 tially of the form shownand described.

6. A railroad-spike having the chisel-point shown and a tapering backrib, substantially as set forth.

7. A railroad-spike having a double head, 6o tapering ribs, and `achisel-point, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereofl have hereunto set my hand.

HOWARD GREER. Witnesses:

FRANK J. LoEsoH, JACOB GREMBY, Jr.

